Patrick J. Buchanan—Pseudo-Historian, Very Real Dissimulator

"In dealing with Mr. Buchanan, one must accept at the beginning two caveats. First, as is his style, he will always resort to ad hominem attacks in lieu of an argument."

I was pleasantly surprised to find that VD's original article didn't contain what you call ad hominem. This one does though, but he can say that he was provoked.

If there's a lesson in this it's that people don't have authority outside of their areas of expertise. What Pat Buchanan thinks about WWII doesn't carry any weight at all, because he's an amateur when it comes to the history that era.

VDH, by contrast, has shown here that he does know about the origins of WWII and more power to him, but when he starts to pose as the great strategist of our time, watch out, because that's outside of his own area of expertise.

While VDH does not mention it - and neither does PJB - but I believe the disarmement treaties of the 20's and 30's played a huge part in bringing on WW II. Countries such as Germany, Italy, and Japan disregarded the treaties and rebuilt/built up their militaries while countries such as the US and GB more or less kept to them.

I read The Rise and Fall of the Third Riech by William Manchester - a fantastic read - three times. The Nazis basically started their Final Solution as soon as they got into power. From Wikepedia -

In 1933, the Dachau concentration camp was built by the Nazis.. It became the prototype for all other camps. During its operation, 190,591 prisoners died or were exterminated.

Also, Manchester relates that before the showers and ovens, the Nazis put their prisoners in large, closed trucks where the car exhaust would slowly kill them. This proved inefficient and thus the creation of the showers and ovens.

At one time I liked PJB but he showed his true colors years ago.

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